Rand Paul Is Launching A New Ad Campaign To Help Todd Akin

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is wading into the nation's most
incendiary Senate race this week, with the launch of a new
statewide, six-figure ad campaign to help Missouri Republican
Todd Akin.

Business Insider has learned that Paul's
political action committee, RANDPAC, will go on air Wednesday
with a new ad attacking Akin's opponent, Democratic Senator
Claire McCaskill, for her vote against
Paul's amendment to block U.S. aid to Pakistan, Egypt, and
Libya.

Although the ad does not mention Akin by name, it represents
Paul's strongest public endorsement of the embattled Missouri
Republican, who became persona non grata with the Republican
Establishment after his mid-summer gaffe suggesting that women
could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."

Now Paul joins South Carolina Senator and fellow Tea Party
favorite Jim DeMint in breaking with Republican
leadership and coming out to materially support Akin. Paul
appears to be the only sitting Senator to have put up ads
supporting Akin's campaign.

"He accepts that Congressman Akin apologized for what he said and
made a mistake," Doug Stafford, Paul's Chief of Staff, told
Business Insider. "One or two mistaken sentences or thoughts
doesn't change the fact that there are dozens of issues on which
Claire McCaskill is truly bad on and on which Todd Akin would be
a significant improvement."

McCaskill campaign spokesperson Erik Dorey sends over this
response to the new ad:

"Todd Akin's position on this issue is so extreme, he would
be one of only 10 Senators to cut this foreign aid funding. Sen.
Roy
Blunt, as well as every member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, including Sen. John McCain, voted against this bill
because these overly-simplistic solutions in a dangerous, complex
world put our allies and American interests at risk. Claire's led
the fight to bring our tax dollars home from wasteful
infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, and she is confident that
those who attacked our embassies and our citizens will be brought
to justice--an approach that Osama bin Laden came to understand
intimately when U.S. Navy Seals showed up on his
doorstep."

The McCaskill campaign also noted that, as a congressman,
Akin voted for Paul Ryan's budget, which would have cut more than
$400 million in State Department funding for U.S. embassy
security.